THERE are concerns and palpable tension as heavy gunshots erupted in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, on the morning of Saturday, November 4.
Reports say as a result of the shootings, major access to the city centre has been blocked by armed men.
According to reports monitored, there are no clear causes for the ongoing shootings in the West African nation.
Guinea has been ruled by Mamady Doumbouya, a Colonel in the Army since September 2021.
He led a coup that ended eleven years of civilian government.
According to France24, the gunfire is in Kaloum, the political and administrative centre of the country.
Kaloum is located on a peninsula and houses the presidency and several top government and administrative offices, as well as the military headquarters and the main prison.
The trial of former leader Moussa Dadis Camara, a former leader of the country, has been held in Guinea’s capital city since September of last year, and this has caused recent waves of turmoil in Conakry.
According to DW, a few hours after the reported gunfight, Minister of Justice Charles Alphonse Wright told Radio Fim FM that several people, including Camara and other military personnel, had managed to escape from the prison.
Wright said Camara, the leader of the 2008 coup, was freed on Saturday after gunmen broke into the central jail in Conakry, Guinea.
In addition to Mali, Burkina Faso, and this year’s Niger and Gabon, Guinea is one of numerous nations that have witnessed coups since 2020.
Guinea has had autocratic governments since its October 1958 independence from France.
A reporter with the ICIR
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